


The Return of the Three Kings

by Keenir



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Thor Movies, Gen, I try to make a tiny little Loki & Sif coda - but it grows like..., J.R.R.Tolkien reference, Monty Python chapter titles, Odin and Frigga have an argument
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2017-12-23 01:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/920608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor was a minute or two later in getting to the Bifrost, so there's no final battle.  But now everybody gets to confront everybody, and all their past gets revealed.</p><p><i>when It Will Be confronts All That Is,</i><br/><i>the heavens shake;</i><br/><i>when All That Is confronts It Will Be,</i><br/><i>the heavens shake;</i><br/>--Asgard proverb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Facts in Kingmaking.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapters 2,3,4 take their titles from Monty Python.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What has come before, has all led to the events of the film.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prequel to the first chapter, but doesn't _have to_ be read. This chapter takes place during  & before the movie Thor.
> 
> IMHO, this works whether or not Loki is a Jotunn.  
>  **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**  
>  _If they do not love you, let them respect you;_  
>  _If they do not respect you, let them fear you;_  
>  _If they do not fear you, then make your name known to the ages._  
>  \--King Bor of Asgard.

As children, Thor had always been the one who informed their nanny during storytime that "That could never happen. It's silly. Nobody would fall for that" But Loki kept quiet and listened, and thought about what could have driven each person in the tale, to the point where the tale began - wandering in the woods, trading their children, lost and hungry, facing down a pack of beasts, making a deal with a wicked creature. _And all the tales have another purpose, for there is a reason why they are passed down,_ Loki thought.

**Fact #1: all quests have a cause and an end.**  
 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As students, Thor and Sif excelled in their classes, surpassing all expectations, which were of considerable height. While Loki took careful notes, delving into ethnology and metalurgy and magicraft and husbandry, so as to better wrap his mind around all the dry facts their teachers and tutors drilled into their students' skulls.

And the affinity he felt for the short reign of scriptorally-inclined King Bor, of the same dynasty as the Allfather, why that only made it all the better.

**Fact #2: know what drives someone, and you can write their history for them.**  
 **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"When will you be king?" Sif asked him one afternoon during their time in the ephemeral teenagerhood period of Asgardian development.

"Never," Loki said, looking down at her where she stood at the base of the tree. _Fandral says her choice of clothes entirely ruin the point of seeing her from this angle, but I disagree - this is the perfect place from which to see how far her eyes go. Wells, they are, deeper than Urd which sits behind Allfather's throne. And more appealing._

"Then what's the point?" she wanted to know.

 _Even I wonder that from time to time._ "In case Thor doesn't want to be king," was as good as Loki could come up with. And he wondered where his brother was. _Normally, Thor never lets me out of his sight. Maybe he's been reading too many of those Alfheim novels, and thinks Sif wants to ravish me._

"I learned a poem."

"Did you now?" reaching for that next branch over.

Sif nods. "My grandfather taught it to me."

"Old Hymir knows poetry? This I simply _must_ hear."

Taking a deep breath, like the oral history classes had always insisted upon, Sif recited: "Ash nazg, durbatauluk, ash nazg, gimba-"

Loki fell from the tree.

"LOKI!" Thor shouted, having been on his way back when he saw the fall and heard the noise he really didn't want to hear. ( **fact #3** )

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

"Permit me to see if I have the understanding of this, brother," Loki said. "You wish to rob Idunn and hold her apples hostage until she surrenders to you a...?"

"A kiss," Thor said, entirely too enthusiastic for Loki's taste, for all that the bigger boy was standing still.

"Could you not simply _ask_ her for one? No thievery required."

"But that would not make a good story. And a story is what we will need when our grandchildren ask us one day about our first kiss."

"Grandchildren?"

"Will you help me, Loki?"

 _Suddenly I'm your only friend and co-conspirator?_ and asked a nicer form of that question.

Thor made a face. "Sif's on a fishing trip with her grandfather. Hogun and Volstagg are getting ready for the next Hunt. And Fandral's locked himself in the Romantic Poetry section of the library again. Please, brother?"

"Very well. I could do with the exercise." _I have the distinct impression blame will fall upon me. But then, he is my brother._ ( **fact#4** )

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

When they entered the mature phase of growth, Sif and Loki and Thor were permitted to go on adventures and to join others on raids.

Loki kept an eye on them all, taking invisible mental notes of how each of them handled trouble, adversity, boons, and puzzles like what to do with a box full of wolf puppies in the middle of a road. Fandral and Volstagg and Hogun were fun each in their own ways; but Loki preferred keeping an eye on Sif (and lo how Volstagg did rib him, but vowed to keep it a secret until Loki was ready).

But Loki could not escape noticing how each victory and success only buoyed Thor's ego further, _making him think himself yet more invincible than he is_...and how each setback and defeat only prompted Thor to take more of the responsibility for the failure (and the preparation for the next adventure) onto his own broad shoulders.

These were only observations thus far. _The question remains, how might they translate into action?_ Loki wondered when they returned to Asgard to sleep in Gladsheim.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

A month remained until it would be time for Thor to receive Odin's blessing as the next in line to be king of Asgard. _Official blessing,_ Loki knew. _Firstborn, first-given._

_But Thor has not changed. And the longer he goes, how much harder will it be to rein him in or convince him of a quieter road later on?_

If the Allmother had seen anything, she was not saying so. If the Allfather had a plan, he was quieter still. And Thor... _needs a reason to change._

"My shoulders aren't as broad, but no matter," Loki muttered, then ducked.

"Talk sense, Loki," Sif said, looking at the hairtips that her glaive had sheared off. "And pay attention!"

"You don't like being my barber?" he asked with a familiar smile.

"You don't want me to do that," she said, mock-warningly.

"Don't I?" savoring the feel of the training sands underfoot.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

There were only so many times he could account for each possible reaction in the sequence. _Most, fortunately, are left little choice by what has come before, what they themselves are reacting to._ And that was as true of Jotunns as of his fellow Asgardians.

Finally, he destroyed his notes to the last, and readied himself for battle, no matter how much or little blood it spilled.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Odin's collapse had been unexpected. _I hadn't planned for that._

But he was adaptable, flexible, the embodiment of survival.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

And as he sat upon the throne, Loki's gaze fell upon one more than it fell upon the Warriors Three, which reminded him of one thing he had completely forgotten to take into his calculations: _for Sif, everything is personal._

Which made the refusal hurt all the more when he informed her and the Warriors Three that he could not undo Odin's last command. _But continuity is not the only reason. Without the Hammer, Thor is mortal. Oh he would try to help in any potential conflict with Jotunheim, but he would be more handicap than boon._

Loki looked at Sif as she was among the last to leave, and tried to discern whether or not he had truly seen the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth.

_If she does not understand what I am doing, I must live with that._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not kidding about the corners of Sif's mouth near the end of that scene - was that a hint of a smile?


	2. "He's a very naughty boy"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thor's return to Midgard, and his "discussion" with Loki and Odin.
> 
> And what Odin knows.

On Midgard, Thor was shouting for him to open the Bifrost. Shouting. And shouting.

Heimdall broke free of his ice encasement, decapitating one of the guardian Jotunns in the process. As he swung himself about to strike the other Jotunn, a blast of energy bore down on it and dropped it dead.

Turning his head, Heimdall saw the blast had come from Loki who still carried Odin's Spear.

Loki made a gesture and used his magic to cover Heimdall's ice-burns and wounds. "We'll get you tended to in Gladsheim itself; Eir and her best medicines, Heimdall. But first, there is a message I wish to send to Jotunheim. So please, place your sword in its appointed place."

Heimdall did so. "Your brother has Mjolnir once more," he said.

"Well that's all to the good. We can bring him home once this is done. Now... Aim for Jotunheim. And consider that I know its location in the skies; best not to misdirect."

Heimdall obeyed.

"And open the Bridge," Loki said, counting off the moments in his mind. "Laufey is dead," he mentions offhandedly.

"You brought him here through treachery," Heimdall said.

"And would you have gone along with my idea of bringing him here to be assassinated, when there was any risk of the Allfather being injured?"

"I would have dealt with him."

Loki smiled. "No doubt you would have given your best, good Heimdall. But what king travels alone, even on a mission of revenge? No, first we had to remove his guards from him, doing so while he was so very focused upon seeking out Odin."

Heimdall said nothing. _And now..._

Threat-wise, Jotunheim was no more.

"Turn it off," Loki said, and it was so. _At last_. Loki stepped back from the viewing space, now that there would never again be trouble from that branch of Yggdrasil.

With little else to do here, he turned and stood before Heimdall and said, "Let us speak no more of this, Heimdall."

"Is that wise?" Heimdall asked.

"Wise?" Loki asked. "I am not the one who disobeyed his king."

Heimdall did not reply, knowing that action and inaction could equally shape up into disobedience.

 _You let them pass. Sif and the others walked right by you, and you permitted it._ "You endangered the friends of your king. Fortunate you that they distinguished themselves against the Destroyer you saw no harm in sending to Midgard."

"I serve my king."

Taking full advantage of the ambiguity of that statement, Loki asked in reply, "And what would Odin have done? Had you done the same while he was awake, and knowing Odin as you do, tell me, how would Odin have reacted to your action?"

 _None in Asgard are as irreplaceable as they may believe,_ Heimdall knew; _I myself have not been the only Gatekeeper, and one day I will have a successor._ He said nothing, but lowered himself, one knee coming as close to the floor as he could. "We shall speak no more of this matter, my king." 

Loki nodded. "That will be all. Now, open a Bifrost to Midgard, so we may return to Gladsheim. Volstagg knows how to turn off the Bifrost by now."

**~~~**

Odin found Loki sitting on a windowframe, looking down and watching Eir treating Heimdall's injuries.

The Allfather knew that Thor was scouring all of Asgard for Loki, as were the Warriors Three; Sif was searching in places where she had known Loki to retreat to. _But he has not retreated, not today,_ Odin knew. "Loki," Odin said.

Aside from a respectful dip of his head, Loki said nothing.

But Odin knew that Loki need say not say anything - it would be unlike Loki to make a statement like 'how was your slumber?' when the answer was already known; that answer and the answers to questions which hung from that first answer. The Odinsleep was medicinal and could not keep out anything. _A knife could have ended my life, a blade of softest grass could have ended me - anything could have, a fact Laufey would know and find himself unable to resist. Loki did more than save my life - he arranged the circumstances of Laufey's death._ "You have done well for yourself while I slumbered, Loki," Odin said.

"One does one's best," Loki said.

"I wish you to walk with me," Odin asked of him.

In answer, Loki slid from the windowframe and dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. He came over to stand by Odin, still quiet, and they walked.

"I _am_ angry, Loki, but not at you," Odin said at last. "The throne _is_ yours."

"I have plans for the throne, Allfather," Loki said with studied neutrality.

_I deserved that._

"LOKI!" Thor shouted. "Father, back away from him! He's dangerous!" as Thor and the Warriors Three ran to them from one end of Gladsheim's great corridor, and as Sif ran to them from the other end.

"The danger has passed," Odin informed them. "Sheathe your weapons in the presence of your king."

"Father -"

 **"Thor,"** Odin boomed, a sound which had all nearby instinctively dropping to their knees, even Loki.

Rising back up, Loki said, "If I may, Allfather, we should permit Thor to speak. Is that not an example of the mercy you once taught us?"

"It is. Speak, Thor."

Thor considered his words, and how to arrange them, then said "Loki has used treachery."

Loki blinked. "When do I not?"

"He does have a point, Thor," Fandral said.

"Though when it does not work, you tend to call it a parlor trick."

"Also true," Hogun admitted.

"You destroyed Jotunheim!" Thor declared. " _That_ was no parlor trick."

"Respectively, no, and true," Loki corrected. "I used the Bifrost to lay waste to Laufey's throne and enough of the region surrounding it, that Jotunheim no longer has any military force. And for as well as they fought when we faced them, Thor, Jotunheim has for a long time not been the military powerhouse which it once was before the War. If that was the entirety of their population, in those three glaciers..."

"There are more," Odin said. "All across the remainder of their world."

"You should not have done this, Loki," was Thor's response.

 _I defanged our ancient enemies, and you suddenly claim indignation. You defended a people we had long ago vowed to protect, and Mjolnir was returned to you. How are the two comparable?_ "I? While I was indeed king at the time, _Thor_ , I would not object to summoning all of Asgard to _thinga_ so you may make a case of it. I've no doubt it would be fascinating to see how many in Asgard would prefer the war you so enthused about, complete with Asgardian body count, over what I did, with none."

 _Was?_ "I was wrong. As was your deed."

_Should I tell him now? No, let someone else bring good Thor the news that my destruction was only after Laufey attempted to assassinate Odin._

"And Thor?" Sif asked. "Why send the Destroyer after your own brother?"

 _If I must pick but one reason..._ "I note he possesses Mjolnir and is returned to Asgard," Loki said. _And is no longer a mortal._

"I earned Mjolnir back, brother," Thor said. "By saving many lives which were threatened by the Destroyer."

Loki kept from smiling. _Sometimes, Thor, you make it too easy._ "I specified your name when I awoke it. Heimdall sent it to land in open scrub. So why would the Destroyer have ventured into a populated area?" he asked.

Thor was silent for a time. _If I was the only quarry, as indeed it seemed... Had I remained where I was...the Destroyer would have tracked me to ground at Jane's residence, or at the SHIELD encampment. No doubt I could have earned back Mjolnir through rescue efforts at either location. The town was..._

"You sought companionship while you were there. Entirely understandable," Loki said. "Did you make any friends?"

"I did."

"Good. Then I shall step back so that our returned king may say what he wishes," Loki said, and knelt before Odin, offering up the Spear to he who had previously wielded it.

"Father, I -"

Accepting the Spear, Odin asked Thor, "Did your mortal friends witness you regaining Mjolnir?" _Did they see you cease to be mortal?_

"I believe so," Thor said.

"Then bring them." Turning his eye to the Warriors Three and Sif, "You four have my thanks for providing Thor with object examples of how to bring aid to those in need."

None of the four wanted to naysay, to inform Odin that they had been fighting the Destroyer while Thor had been helping sheepdog the humans to safety.

"Now, we shall eat," Odin said, his stomach rumbling a thunder of its own in its hunger.


	3. "I'd like to have an argument."

Dinner was a strained affair, for all that the air was thick with three perfectly sound reasons for celebration - Odin's return, Loki's victory, and Thor's return.

Odin stood as Frigga walked into the hall. "Allmother," he said.

"Allfather," she replied, just as coldly.

"Empty the room," Odin said, and many got up to leave. When he knew that not everyone was moving, he repeated himself, more forcefully, and struck the butt of his Spear against the floor. In a minute's time, the room was empty but for Odin, Frigga, Loki, Thor...and Sif and the Warriors Three standing half-hiding at a doorway. "This conversation is private," Odin said to the boys.

"Do you fear them to hear this, then, Odin?" Frigga asked him.

"I do not fear, no. But I will not permit you to hide behind them any longer. Our sons will not be your excuse from this point onward."

"Excuse?" Thor asked.

"I believe that means he wishes to hear your explanation," Frigga said. "You could spirit them away in an eyeblink of time, but what would that accomplish?"

 _Very well._ "You did this," Odin said, his voice a whisper that was nearly a hiss, full of accusation.

"Yes, Odin, I did," Frigga said. "I knew before you ever left for that battle."

"Clearly. Your comment of 'what you need will be found in the Jotunn temple' led us here."

 _'Temple'?_ Thor mouthed.

"As did you," Frigga said.

"As did I, foreseer. But then, what reason had I to suspect your words?"

"You see every act in every Realm, and still you feared the future. What warrior does not use the weapons she can?"

"And now, dare I ask, how many of the advice I asked from you when I was casting a difficult judgement upon people, how many of my subjects became cursed or dead because you wished us to come this close to disaster here and these past few days?" Odin asked.

"The number is higher than one," Frigga said.

Odin stared at her, and Frigga met that stare head-on, staring right back - which Odin met and returned.

"I will not do what you no doubt wish me to do," Odin said. "Rather, I will do what we both have always feared. For that is your weapon, fear." Striking the butt of his Spear against the floor once more, Odin pronounced, "You, Frigga, and I, Odin, are hereby stripped of all powers and title and rank, henceforth denied their artifacts of power and prestige and use," the armor of them both materializing and falling away to clatter silently on the floor. As his Spear rose from his hand to float in the air in mid-room, Odin said lastly, "We are to be denied the use of Allfather and Allmother as name and as position."

Thor was stunned at how much thinner and weaker his father looked now.

"You've painted your way into a corner, husband," Frigga remarked.

"Not as yet," Odin said to her. To the boys, the princes, Odin said "There has been enough argument in Asgard for one day. Discuss among yourselves which of you - or whom else - will be king next."

"But -" Thor said.

"I can not order you, either of you. But I can promise you answers when you have resolved your succession."

As the boys walked away, civil and tense, Frigga said one further thing: " _Loki_ did not cause your collapse in the Armory. I need no foreseeing to have known that. And what else I told you has come to pass."

_Aye, you said that the baby in the temple would defend Asgard in her hour of greatest need. Let us hope that the hour has passed._

**~~~**

The rest of the day had ended since that meal, and now Loki walked out into the field of standing stones, directing himself to one familiar stone - and almost didn't see that it already had a visitor, until Loki had nearly stepped on him. Loki paused, then began to back away very very slowly and quietly -

"Hello, brother," Thor said, sitting in front of the Forseti stone himself.

Loki asks, "Are you here for me, or have you come to make your own small request of Wise Old Forseti?"

"Yes to both," Thor says. "I have been out here for some time now, seeking his council."

Loki let Thor talk, as _he feels he needs to._

"Fandral and the others, they spoke to me of how you would not let them recover me when Allf- Odin collapsed. For that, I can only thank you. They little saw me when I was in that weakened state of mortality; to be seen in that way every day from thence onward, while Mjolnir was on Earth... No," shaking his head. "Be it a thing you did for your sake, mine, or our father and continuity, _I did_ benefit from it," Thor said.

When Thor fell silent, there was mutual silence for a time before Loki said, quietly, hushed, "I never wanted the throne." For that is what people do when near the Forseti stone - they speak, and more than that, they confess and admit.

"And yet you used it well," Thor said, a compliment, not a curse or sarcasm.

"A warrior uses what is at hand. You taught me that just as much as our instructors did."

"I would have you keep the throne. Maybehaps I succeed you, or not."

"I never. Wanted the. Throne," Loki repeated. "I only ever wanted to be your equal. To prove to Odin that I was capable."

"And you have - proven," Thor said. "And you have always been my equal. Fosterage does not change that."

He looked at Thor with something stronger than disbelief, milder than challenge.

"I had known you were fostered, Loki," Thor said. "I had never thought to ask the where of it. I assumed Vanaheim, or Svartálfaheim at the worst."

Loki blinked. "You thought I was a Dwarf?" and doesn't know whether to laugh, cry, or just be.

"You were always _little_ , brother," Thor says, a touch defensively, the tone that of a boy who never knew what to make of his brother. "And your skill with magic struck me as not dissimilar to what they craft in their forges."

"And yet you wanted me along when you and Sif went to Svartálfaheim?"

"Of course; you were part of our teamwork, Loki. And even if you had been a Dwarf, they feud with one another more than you and I have ever done - more than even father and Ve our uncle. Oh now _there_ was a quarrel which could have torn Asgard apart."

"I think we might have acquitted ourselves well, had my plan gone wrong."

"Never at all, then? I have no argument against that."

"You think my plan flawless?" Loki asked, wondering if Thor had hit his head while on Earth.

"Your plans tend to carry themselves with fewer wrinkles and surprises than have mine or Fandral's."

"Oh yes, Fandral's plans. My back finally managed to forget the latest example of that."

"Yours and mine both," Thor said with a wince. "Even Jane's car was a lesser sore."

They left it like that for a bit.

"On the matter of plans... I spoke with Baldur," Thor said. "The Einherjar bear you no love, but they agree with his account. Laufey is dead?"

"I realize you wished his passing to your credit, but -"

"Do not say time was of the essence," Thor said, but said it not remandingly, but said it in the jockular way he had in times past when they were jointly recalling a tale or a sight.

"I wasn't about to," Loki said. "Laufey would not have come _after_ you regained your Hammer and returned to your home."

" _Our_ home. But I take your meaning; nor would I have been more than a trifle of defense while I stood mortal." A grand grin; "Truly was his underestimation of you proven fatal."

"Hardly _his_ fault if I understand single-minded people so well."

Thor blinked, processed that, seeing the compliment laying within it, and roared with laughter. "True, true."

Time passes and stars move overhead while the two of them simply sit there and soak in the presence of the Forseti stone.

Eventually, Thor stands up. "Rest tonight, brother. For tomorrow is a new day." Thor pauses, as if realizing what he's just said. "A Midgardr expression, that, but no less true for that. I am in your service, brother," and, hand across his chest and head lowered, makes the gesture of loyalty.

"Tomorrow, then, Thor," Loki says, and Thor departs. Once more, Loki was alone.

But he would not be alone here for very long.

**~~~**

_Exactly where I knew he would be. Exactly where he always went,_ Sif thought. "What are you up to?" she asked him.

"Sitting," Loki said, seated in the midst of the standing stones, that one area of Asgard not given over to pasture or building. "And being found, so it seems."

"It seems that way, because it is that way," Sif replied, looking over his shoulder at the Forseti stone he was facing. "Has he dispensed any wisdom of late?"

"Only in the way of old Hoenir," Loki said; _that which you learn by studying the silences rather than the words. And speaking of not speaking of things..._ "Have you a question for him to solve?"

"I fear this is a puzzle even the sagacity of Forseti would not answer."

Loki turned his head to look at her. "A truly heady query, no doubt. You may have my seat, then," and he began to stand.

Sif shook her head, which stilled him in place. "I could stare at him until my flesh became food for worms, and I would get no relief, no reply. _You_ can answer me."

"I? While I am greatly honored by the juxtaposition, in what way can I solve a thing Forseti cannot?"

"My question is, what will you do now, Loki?" Sif asked.

Loki looked at her a moment, his mind framing their just-now conversation in the context of that question. "I had supposed to assume my prior place in the court of my king, my Allfather. And yourself?"

"If I am not asked to be elsewhere, I would do the same," she said.

"Your actions were exemplary. I see no reason for you to be reassigned."

"Not an assignment." _An assignation, perhaps._

He looked at her, and finished rising to his feet, on a hunch that whatever was to follow, it would be best to be bipedal for it. "You speak in riddles too rounded for me, good Sif."

"You dislike rounded things?"

Loki held up one of his hands between them, palm upwards, fingers and thumb curled around an invisible sphere; and he gave a gentle squeeze, then relaxed. "There is a appeal, certainly. But you know I prefer a strong mind, one unafraid."

 _And I was most assuredly that,_ Sif knew, thinking back over her actions while Loki was king...and their interactions well before then. "Stiff and unyielding, then, like those courtly instruments."

"Nae, more agile and flexible, able to catch anything, no matter its minuteness or strength."

"A fishnet." _I attempt to mock you, to tease you, to use your methods against me...and I end up compared with a fishnet?_

"Is that what they are called? I thought it was named Sif."

 _Getting overt, are we? Why the sudden change when we could have continued to hide behind imagery and comparisons?_ "What are you up to?"

"You already asked me that," Loki said good-naturedly.

"You had the throne. You sent the Destroyer after Thor. And you give up the throne with not a word?"

"I did not give it up to Thor." _That matters. At least it does to me._

"But you gave it up," Sif said. "And you..."

Loki waited, patient as the dim red stars older than the House of Odin could aspire to be. "Yes?"

"You didn't do anything else."

"True."

"But, but you were king."

"Again, more of the truth. One never expects less from you."

Sif gave him a look. "You could have done anything."

"I did," Loki said.

"Anything, Loki. You could have..."

Reading her face, he finished for her: "Asked for your hand."

"Well, yes."

"I could have," he agreed. "But I disliked what might have come if you had refused."

"You assume I would have."

"Service to Asgard would take you that far?"

"It would not be that," Sif said.

His look was priceless, one she couldn't help smiling at.

She can't resist asking "Really, you never knew?" because, if not now, when would be a better time?

"I thought..."

"I was mooning over Thor?" Sif asked. "You and the rest of Asgard. Of course it looked like that - you and he never left each others' side for centuries, you were both so loyal. And I emulated you both in that loyalty, turning it into service to the throne, the crown, and you." _I lapsed towards the end, focusing on the first two, less on the third._

Loki's face turned slightly more inscrutable than he tended to be.

"What?" Sif asked him.

"I stepped down from the throne, Sif. If memory serves, you were present at the occassion." _And later Odin removed himself and Frigga from authority._

"You assume I care."

"You always care. So very much."

"Your titles and potential to rise to power, those were never why I liked you, Loki."

"Such a balm to me in my twilight."

"Its dark out," Sif said. "And I do mean it - you could be a cobble-maker, and I would still be at your side."

"That may be where I end, Sif. Upon the cobbles, that is."

"Then it will be where we end."

 _You will outlive me._ "Cobble-maker, wandering madman, groomsman?"

"Stop trying to talk yourself out of this, Loki; because its not shifting me one iota."

"Very well. Cobble-maker or advisor to the king?"

"You are certain?"

"Thor will inherit the throne. I will not. As simple as that."

"I do not have to concern myself with becoming Queen Sif one distant day?"

A shadow fell across Loki's face for a few moments before it flew off him so he might say "Not unless you have plans which do not involve me."

"Then we will never again - on that same distant day or sooner - have the honor of greeting _King_ Loki?" Sif teased him.

"I have been king, and I am satiated," Loki said.

"Not too much, I hope, my prince."

The look in his eyes was exactly what she had hoped for.


	4. "Its still moving!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This was my plan all along," Loki said.  
> "Your plan was - to persuade everyone to let you leave Asgard?"  
> "No, it was to ensure Thor was ready to be king; after which, I could go." _Given what you said to me of late...do you want to come as well?_

It was nearly dawn when he was next addressed, this time in his quarters -

"You're leaving?"

"As observant as you are, I'm unsure why that is a question," Loki said to Sif who had asked.

"Because you got everything you wanted," Sif said. "And yet you're packing your things."

His motions grew more forced, more focused; his voice betrayed none of it. "If you believe I _wanted_ any of that, you are sore mistaken. I served Asgard, same as you. Nothing mroe."

"You were thorough. Careful."

"I learned from childhood mistakes. Made a study of the five of you."

"Knew us better than we did."

Loki shrugged.

"I would wager that nobody can convince you to stay," Sif said.

"You will win."

She hesitated, mind determining if he was so certain of the wager's outcome, _or if he is saying I alone can convince him._

Sif tossed her own travel satchel to land beside Loki's.

_Now_ he looked up at her. "A scheme, Sif? At this hour?"

"No scheme. I didn't come here to talk you out of anything, Loki. I came to see if you were ready to go."

"Oh that's good," setting down his things. "Very clever," coming over to her. "Guilting me into staying so Asgard does not lose its finest warrior."

"Guilt works? Since when?"

Loki looked at her. "Your confession earlier made much clear. But this here is a thing you may not be able to come back from."

"True. But you assume I want to."

"And what of your oath?" he asked.

Sif smiled. "If anyone asks, I tell them _a_ truth - that I swore to defend Asgard, and you are part of Asgard, whereever you are."

Looking her pure in those eyes, inches away, "That's a rationalization if ever I heard one."

She leaned a little and breathed into his ear, "Did I not have a fine teacher?"

He drew back just enough to look into her eyes, to see the expression dancing on her lips, to see her reaction when he tucked a loose strand of hair back to its place behind her ear - he stopped his hand midway there, and she looked disappointed. _One thing, then,_ he resolved. "Very well," Loki says at last. "But I would extract a price."

"My company is not sufficient?" Sif asks, pretending to be hurt at that.

"It would be, but for your oath."

"We just -"

The look he sends her is as effective as anyone else holding up one hand to request patience. "I would have you know my price."

"I have only two things of value," Sif says.

"Your hands and your mind are not all you have, Sif."

Her cheeks warm a little hearing Loki name two things that would not have been first to the tongues of many men of any Realm. "What then?"

In lieu of answering, Loki kneels before her, head bowed. "Permit this unworthy petitioner to do for you and be for you, all that you have done for me and mine for the past centuries."

"You want to be my personal guard?" Sif asks, not intending to sound as incredulous as the idea sounded when he said it.

"Your support, your reinforcements, your backer, anything you have need of."

"A warrior with a wizard bodyguard. My how the tongues shall wag."

"You do not need to come with me," Loki reminded her.

"Need, no, true. Want, yes I do."

Loki held out his hand, palm up. Sif placed her hand in his, palm down.

**Author's Note:**

> Why will my muses not let me finish an entire fic before they give me the beginnings of two more fics?


End file.
